Pepperdine will join the nation's top women's golf teams at the Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort in Howey-In-The-Hills, Florida, next week for the 24-team NCAA Championships.

The four-day, 72-hole tournament begins next Tuesday (May 22) and continues through next Friday (May 25) with teams scheduled to play 18 holes daily.

Head coach Laurie Gibbs' team heads to Florida ranked No. 11 nationally by Golfweek and No. 12 in the current MasterCard listing.

The Waves earned a third consecutive berth to the NCAA Championships after finishing in eighth place at last weekend's NCAA East Regional Championships played at the Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Pepperdine edged No. 15 ranked Wake Forest by one shot to secure eighth place and the final spot at the NCAA Championships.

Sophomore Lindsey Wright was the top individual performer for the Waves, finishing in a tie for fifth place with a two-over par total of 218. Sophomore Katherine Hull was in a group of four players who tied for 21st place with a nine-over par score of 225.

Wright is No. 10 nationally in the current MasterCard individual rankings. Hull is ranked No. 13, while senior Lisa Chang is ranked No. 72.

Pepperdine finished fifth at the 1999 NCAA Championships held at the Tulsa Country Club and placed eighth at last year's tournament in Sun River, Oregon.

The 24-team field at the NCAA Championships includes 15 teams ranked in the Top 20 of the current MasterCard poll.

The West Coast is represented by nine schools including Arizona, Arizona State, California, Pepperdine, San Jose State, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington.